1
as in to pretend
to present a false appearance of
he dissembled happiness at the news that his old girlfriend was getting married—to someone else
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2
as in to dissimulate
to take on a false or deceptive appearance
children learn to dissemble at a surprisingly early age
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Recent Examples of dissemble
Building trust in companies and their leaders isn’t easy, given many decades of dissembling.
—
Steve Denning, Forbes.com, 6 July 2025
You’d like your government to tell you the truth, and the government dissembled repeatedly after the raid about what the rules of engagement were.
—Aryeh Neier, The New York Review of Books, 3 Mar. 2025
Pushing back on reporters, at the time Scher often dissembled and appeared to brush aside concerns about what was clearly an increasingly out-of-control situation.
—Gil Kaufman, Billboard, 19 July 2024
That same week, Altman made headlines at a Senate hearing by asking to be regulated — wowing senators who were more accustomed to tech CEOs dissembling or responding evasively to questions.
—Brian Fung, CNN, 14 Feb. 2024
See All Example Sentences for dissemble
Steve Denning, Forbes.com, 6 July 2025
You’d like your government to tell you the truth, and the government dissembled repeatedly after the raid about what the rules of engagement were.
—Aryeh Neier, The New York Review of Books, 3 Mar. 2025
Pushing back on reporters, at the time Scher often dissembled and appeared to brush aside concerns about what was clearly an increasingly out-of-control situation.
—Gil Kaufman, Billboard, 19 July 2024
That same week, Altman made headlines at a Senate hearing by asking to be regulated — wowing senators who were more accustomed to tech CEOs dissembling or responding evasively to questions.
—Brian Fung, CNN, 14 Feb. 2024
See All Example Sentences for dissemble
Recent Examples of Synonyms for dissemble
Verb
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The Buffs, who open spring ball Monday, are full-speed ahead at pretending 2025 didn’t happen — so much so, in fact, that nearly half the roster, both coordinators and a chunk of the coaching staff are brand new.—
Sean Keeler,
Denver Post,
28 Feb. 2026
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Kate Moss, Anok Yai, and Alex Consani were just three of the many famous names who walked down the runway, holding pretend cigarettes and real bags at the crook of their elbow — just like Paris Hilton, who sat front row next to her sister Nicky, did in the noughties.—
Elektra Kotsoni,
Vogue,
27 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Many agencies confirmed figures with CNN directly, but when agencies did not respond, CNN used the most recent information available on their websites or other government websites and assumed five-day weeks when calculating the approximate number of training days.—
Blake Ellis,
CNN Money,
27 Feb. 2026
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But equal time itself is narrower than many assume.—
Jay Caruso,
The Washington Examiner,
27 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Plant the bulbs in pots and place them in a cold environment to simulate winter before bringing them indoors to bloom in a warm environment.—
Brandee Gruener,
Southern Living,
23 Feb. 2026
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Leanne Fan, 18, a 12th-grader at Westview High School, built a device that uses rotation to simulate microgravity — the near-weightlessness that astronauts experience in space — in order to study how live organisms grow in space.—
Jemma Stephenson,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
23 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Dissemble.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dissemble. Accessed 2 Mar. 2026.
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